blackstock, lay out your argument. what age would you like to see black americans, the age cutoff for vaccines? and explain further why. >> good morning, amy, and thank you for having me on. my sister and i were really compelled to write this op-ed because it appeared these fixed aged cutoffs that most states implemented did not take into account structural racism toll on black life expectancy in addition to the impact of the pandemic on the life expectancy by people in this country. we propose either removing or reducing the age cutoff for black americans. in australia, they lowered the cut off for indigenous australians to 55 when it was at 70 for nonage division is -- for nonindigenous us trillions. in canada, they open up eligibility to all and indigenous comnity's in order to increase uptake and indigenous canadians. that iresulted in higher levels of vaccination and indigenous committees compared to the general population. we have not that exact modeling to say by what amount cutoffs should be reduced but a reduc

blackstock, lay out your argument. what age would you like to see black americans, the age cutoff for vaccines? and explain further why. >> good morning, amy, and thank you for having me on. my sister and i were really compelled to write this op-ed because it appeared these fixed aged cutoffs that most states implemented did not take into account structural racism toll on black life expectancy in addition to the impact of the pandemic on the life expectancy by people in this country. we propose either removing or reducing the age cutoff for black americans. in australia, they lowered the cut off for indigenous australians to 55 when it wast 70 for nonage division is -- for nonindigenous us trillions. in canada, they open up eligibility to all and indigenous commuty's in order to increase uptake and indigenous canadians. that iresulted in higher levels of vaccination and indigenous committees compared to the general population. we have not that exact modeling to say by what amount cutoffs should be reduced but a reducti

blackstock, to that point, even the --

blackstock, thank you so much. i really appreciate it. the news continues right now. i want to hand it over to don lemon for "cnn tonight." >>> this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. we thank you so much for joining. important message tonight, because there is another massacre and we have another chance to do something about the epidemic of gun violence, and it's slippin

blackstock, to that point, even the -- for those who do have access to computers. the whole -- it seems like, at least in new york, you know, from what i have seen of the system, for finding where you can get vaccinated. it's incredibley confusing. i mean, it's -- you know, not to mention, those who don't have access or easy access to online. >> yeah. no. agreed. i think we need to have a uniform, like, you know, one place where people go to register for these vaccinations. what's happening is we have multiple sites, and it's incredibly confusing. and i'm hoping that, over the next few weeks to months, that states will be able to work out these kinks in the registration process. and have a centralized way for people to register, quite easily, for these appointments. >> dr. wen, dr. blackstock, thank you so much. i really appreciate it. the -- the news continues right now. want to hand it over to don lemon for "cnn tonight." >>> this is "cnn tonight." i i am don lemon. we thank you so much for joining. important message, tonight, because there is another massacre. a

blackstock, about the next 100 million shots. is it going to be harder to administer those 100 million than the first -- for a variety of reasons, the location of people, getting access to them. are people going to lose the motivation to keep getting vaccinated and ultimately is it going to be harder? >> you know, i think that there may be advantages. i think for the portion of the population that has concerns about the vaccine, the wait-and-see types, i think actually seeing people that they know get vaccinated and seeing that most people have very minimal side effects and are doing fine after they're vaccinated can potentially be reassuring. and those folks when it's their time to come will actually be, you know, accepting of the vaccine. i also hope that some of these logistical issues that we've encountered over the last few months such as, you know, people were requiring broadband access or something smartphones to sign up for these websites to be vaccinated, that we're finding other ways to get people vaccinated by bringing

blackstock, let me start with you first because even from the layman's perspective, a bunch of drunk people partying at close range seems like the worst possible scenario for coronavirus transmission. >> absolutely. i think you're seeing a lot of young people standing very close together, yelling, and these are the prime factors that would create a situation where coronavirus transmission can spread, but as you mentioned in the opening, florida has, you know, advertised itself as open, and there have been discounted air fare, hotel rates, and so it's become a very attractive place for these young people to travel to. the problem is when they travel home, they potentially expose friends and loved ones who are older, who have risk factors to the virus. >> matt, florida is always an interesting state, right? you know that probably better than the rest of us. the dissonance between what the governor has said and done and what the mayor and public health officials in miami are doing is staggering in this instance. is it not? i mean, have we heard from governor desantis? has he weighed in

blackstock. let me start with you. the company is now out with trial data from phase three from the u.s. that finds the numbers 79% effective overall. 100% effective in stopping serious illness and death. how important is it that the united states have three vaccines available in the next month. >> this is good news, wonderful news, it's great to have a fourth vaccine in our tool kit to fight this pandemic. however the fact is that we'll have more than enough vaccine supply by the end of may from johnson and johnson, moderna, and pfizer. we already have millions, if not tens of millions of vaccines in our stockpile and we're even getting reports that the biden administration will give that supply to canada as well as mexico. so i think that this is wonderful news, but it is more wonderful news for the globe versus the u.s. where we already have more than enough for americans. >> can you talk about some of the early concerns that come up in europe about this. the potential connection. the possible link between the astra

blackstock, thank you so much. i really appreciate it. the news continues right now. i want to hand it over to don lemon for "cnn tonight." >>> this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. we thank you so much for joining. important message tonight, because there is another massacre and we have another chance to do something about the epidemic of gun violence, and it's slipping away. the question is when are elected officials going to have the courage to do something to protect americans who aren't safe from gun violence in the supermarkets, aren't safe at work, not safe at schools, in churches and synagogues, on and on and on and on and on? colorado senator michael bennett, emotional on the senate floor just tonight. >> i'm not asking anybody here to show the courage that officer talley showed or the other men and women of law enforcement who constantly have to deal with the inability of this place's capacity to deal with these issues. i'm just asking us to show an ounce of their courage by doing whatever we can to keep weapons of war out of our communities. >> president jo

blackstock. thank you for coming on the show. let's start with this news that the alabama state mask mandate will be lifted next month. we've talked about texas and others. there are now 17 states without mask mandates in place. do you worry this could spark a knew outbreak and cost lives? >> absolutely. first of all, thank you for having me. i'm concerned. we're very, very critical appointment right now where we have the variants on the rise. vaccinations are not happening as quickly as they should and cases are still quite high. so lifting these restrictions, mask mandate restrictions, it is potentially quite dangerous at this time and i worry specifically about workers in these states who can't stay protected and maybe put at risk with this virus. >> let me play for you something greg abbott said in response to president biden criticizing him and his decision to completely reopen this state as neanderthal thinking. >> the biden administration has been releasing it in covid. some of those people have been put on buses, taking t

blackstock, she is the ceo of advancing health equity and a medical contributor to yahoo news. doctor, just pick up where the vice president leaves off here. i mean i thought we learned this lesson when the pandemic made clear that it wasn't an equal opportunity killer, when remote school made clear it revealed all the fissures the vice president talked about. now we seem to be repeating those mistakes with the vaccine. >> it feels like deja vu, like we have not learned our lesson. i think what these gaps show is that any effort to close the gap requires intentionality. i think what i heard from the covid-19 white house task force is promising, but we need them to be more aggressive. targeting the most vulnerable communities is important. there needs to be accountability as well as follow up. we need to see a change in those numbers and a closing of the gap as soon as possible. >> doctor, what does it look like? can you be granular with us? is it offering at-home vaccinations? what are the practical solutions? >> it's bringing the vaccine to the people. that definitely partneri

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uche blackstock, an urgent care doctor who served on the front lines of this pandemic from the beginning and also the founder and ceo of advancing health equity. doctor, when you look back on this past year what has it been like for you both personally and professionally? >> well, i will say that it's been incredibly emotional. i remember on march 13th my first shift after the pandemic was declared and having to wear full ppe to see my patients and putting on the ppe, and not knowing what to expect but feeling a sense of dread. and then having the patients come and in large volumes, many of them very, very sick, and not knowing when it was going to end. >> in the early days there was a surge of support for health care workers. are you still feeling that? you've had no time off. you've had no breaks. >> you know, i definitely -- i still feel the support. i think because, you know, cases are coming down, because we have the vaccine, we probably don't have as much visible support as we had before. but many of us are still on the front lines caring for patients, cases are still quite high. s